Cotton with a conscience – Tarameen & Esteam are passionate about ethical textiles and working conditions.
Established in 1994, Esteam Apparel Services is an international ethical garment and accessories manufacturer that uses state-of-the-art technology and environmentally friendly manufacturing processes. Esteam is a total solutions provider for ethically sourced products –fashion garments, cosmetic bags, work-wear, scarves and more. In addition to Fairtrade certification, the organisation is also certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and holds several other textile manufacturing accreditations.
- SA8000 accredited – the highest international Quality System for Social Accountability
- OHSAS 18001 – internationally recognised standard for occupational health and safety management
- ISO 14001 – international standard that specifies a process for identifying, controlling and improving an organisation’s environmental performance
- FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisation) approved & Fairtrade licensee
- GOTS approved – the world’s leading processing standard for textiles made from organic fibres
- 1 of only 2 Apparel Standard approved companies in India for the Fairtrade USA program
- Oeko-Tex approved – confirmed limitation of harmful chemicals in the textile process
Esteam has done much to the satisfaction of its workers and for the protection of the environment in recent years as well as conforming to the Fairtrade standards. These include:
- A company outing takes place twice a year.
- A doctor examines all workers once a year. Esteam also co-operates with a NGO’s dedicated to the fight against AIDS.
- Every three months the factory has seminars for health advice & disease prevention.
- A variety of committees and teams are actively involved with the staff to continually improve their working conditions. Such committees include, a health and safety Committee, a Committee for the protection against sexual harassment, Fire-Fighting Committee, Canteen Committee.
- 25 Workers have voluntarily participated in a fire-fighting training and 50 on a first aid course.
- Esteam offer a free bus shuttle service for employees and staff who are more than 20 kilometres from the factory.
- Free creche & care for factory workers children.
- Rainwater harvesting to save valuable water
- Waste water treatment centre for the removal of potential pollutants from the Printing Process.
- Use of natural light and energy saving LED’s
- Cotton waste is recycled & reconstituted into paper that can be used for sundry stationary, greeting cards, labels, etc…
